On 1/7/2013, we gathered at FIA11 to welcome the Myammar Refugee kids, aged 5 to 17 years. When they arrived, the Education students assisted them to their seats. When I first look at those kids, I was thinking "Are those kids really from a Refugee School?". Because you can see, by the way they dressed, some of them even wearing their headphones on, and others having cool mobile phones. Then, we move on with the ice-breaking games, where we get to know the children names and we also get to dance and sing along with the song called "If You Happy and You Know It". It seems that many of the kids could not understand and communicate in English, so luckily they have a translator who can translate for them. Afterthat, we get the kids to split into groups of five. These five groups represented by colour, which are orange, green, yellow, pink and blue. According to the article that I've read, the third move in the I-R-F exchange structure where the "I" represents the initiating move, such as the question that's being posed by the teacher. The "R" is the response from the class and "F" is the follow-up comment by the teacher(Cullen, 2002). Upon my experience with the Myammar Refugee Kids, I was helping the little ones to put on their colour wristbrands and I try to communicate with them, they is no response. Therefore, no follow up and I-R-F does not exist. Some of the kids could not speak English, so I have to use gestures to communicate with them.
The Scavenger hunt team will take their group of kids to places where the station games are. The station games consist of four games:
- Traffic Light Game
- Building Bridge with Newspapers
- Blindfold Game
- Loop News Paper Game
The Kids :)
While the kids busy playing with the station games, me and my other two friends Flora and Agnes are part of the Indoor Games Group. So, we went to F3B08, to arrange the chairs and set up the music for the "Musical Chairs" games. Then, when the kids arrived at 10.10am, one of the Education students gave instructions regarding the activities. I was in charge of playing the music. I chose two different songs and mash them up together. The songs I chose were High School Musical- We all in this together and The Wanted-Chasing The Sun. I was consider to be the "DJ" of the event. The kids really had so much fun playing Musical Chairs and then we move on to "Rock,Paper, Scissors Game". My classmate Phoebe, gave instructions and she and I demonstrate how to play this game. I had a good laugh when I was playing "Rock, Paper, Scissors Game" with Kay, and she was so excited and thought she won the game. Hahaha :)
High School Musical- We're all in this together
The Wanted-Chasing The Sun
After the games, we took the kids to the Nottingham Adminstration Building to have refreshments. While having our refreshments, I chatted with one of the kids and it seems that she could speak English very well compare to other kids. There is IRF, where I initiate by asking a question such as "Hi, what is your name?". She responds by saying her name and there is a follow up, where I said "Oh, I mention her name again, and said things like nice to meet you. Then, we took a group photo and they left the University. It is sad for us to see the kids go, one of my classmate almost cried and refuse to see the kids go. It was an unforgettable experience for me and my classmate, as we had a lot of fun when these kids are around and they just made us feel young again. There were really wonderful and we missed them. Hopefully, we get to see them in the future.
On the next activity, I would like to join the Scavenger Hunt Team, to get to know the kids well, engage in conversations, ask questions, and more importantly, play together with them. I would want to achieve IRF, an effective tool for interpersonal communication.
References:
Cullen,R.(2002).Supportive teacher talk:the importance of the F-move. Oxford University Press,56(2), 117-127.
Sonia, I enjoy reading this entry very much and I liked the part where you applied IRF. It's a whole new experience, isn't it? BTW, the photos look very good.
ReplyDeleteWKToo